Terrible April Fools Ideas and One Secret Mission
by BlueViolets87
Summary: Ben's first April Fools Day in Pawnee goes as strange as a pranking holiday could be in Pawnee- a week late and with high competition and secret alliances. Takes place during season 3. Oneshot for Invisiblegirl3.


**Hey there! This is for an extra special girl with the extra special writing skills Invisiblegirl3. She really writes cool stuff that bring sunshine in on a rainy day. Happy birthday my friend! I bet you thought I forgot but here it is for you with an hour to spare! Enjoy.**

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There had been a lot of things that have surprised Ben about Pawnee over the year, from a famous pony to the citizens' strange and varying superstitions including one where some citizens were scared to throw trash in one trash can in the middle of town because it somehow was haunted. Holidays were usually giant events but then April 1st came around and there was nothing. No practical jokes, no whoopie cushions, no pies filled with shaving cream, the day felt more normal than usual.

"Put that away Ben, what kind of place do you think this is?" Ron asked him with his eyebrows raised as Ben flushed, tugging the fake bloodied arm out from his shirt sleeve and throwing it in the trash. That was the biggest reaction that Ben received that first April day. Chris was just as confused but had luckily gotten the mass text from Tom showing off Ben's apparent pathetically lame joke before he had come in with his classic squirting water flowers.

It wasn't until a week or so later when he walked into City Hall and no one was there. Ben grabbed one of the newspapers near the entrance, took a bite of his bagel and started walking towards the Parks department. He started repeating his script over and over again, that he would be leaving soon, is there anything they need, how to keep up the government's stability and everything else he usually said before leaving a town. Usually by this point Ben was dying to leave and everyone wanted him out just as much but he wasn't feeling it as much. He burst through the Park doors just as a bucket of water fell down on top of him. The entire Parks department stared at him before bursting out in laughter.

"Haha, I got him! Ben is officially pranked!" Tom crowed, doing a little dance and highfiving Donna. "Happy April Fool's sucka!"

"Huh?"

"Aw, that's not fair, how was he supposed to know about it? He's still a newbie," Leslie said, trying to hold back a laugh.

"Can somebody explain what is going on here?" Ben shivered. Jerry handed Ben a towel from under his desk, obviously used to being the one soaked on April Fool's Day.

"It's Pawnee's annual April Fool's Day," Andy said, laughing as he hugged April from behind. He started tugging at his April's Fool shirt so everyone could see and as April moved her arms, Ben could see the words Andy's Fool written on April's shirt.

"You guys know that April Fool's Day was last week, on the first right?" Ben checked his pulse, yup, still elevated.

"Yeah, not in Pawnee. Mayor Gunderson got really drunk a while back and was convinced that April Fool's Day was April 9th. When he sobered up, he refused to admit he was wrong and look stupid so he changed it to April 9th. Everyone in town participates now." Leslie explained.

"I do not participate in this," Ron interjected.

"Everyone but Ron plays along. Everyone pranks each other until there is only one prank king or queen left, though it's usually a queen," Leslie smirked a little, crossing her arms. She paused, looking at Ben.

"Are you referring to yourself?"

"Actually, she is referring to me," April said, amused.

"She always plays dirty. Literally. Last year she turned my desk into a garden." Tom shook his head. "So not fair."

Ben put his arms up. "This makes no sense."

"You make no sense," April shot back.

Ben sighed, "Fine then. I want a redo. I want to try to prank too. You know I was a pretty good prankster back in the day." Everyone started to snicker a little and started to walk away. "I was!"

"Ok Ben," Donna tried to hide her smile as she stared at her computer. Eyes slightly narrow

By noon, Leslie was knocked out when Ann sent her a picture of her "dyed hair" (wig) and shown everyone around the office how "luxuriously magical" Ann's hair was before finding out it was fake. Tom was still grumbling about the little plants April had planted in his keyboard, Donna was outside, scrubbing the painted rainbow off of her car, muttering about revenge and Jerry was currently locked outside.

Ben had somehow avoided most of the pranks, trying to come up wth something good on his lunch break. When he got to his desk, there was a small note attached to his computer. _306.87 Ende._

Slightly confused, Ben got up, still holding the note and quickly power walked over to the Parks Department, peeking in. Everyone was still accounted for, working at their desks. A strange smell was coming from Jerry's desk but otherwise everything was normal. He crept back out into the hall so that no one could see him before looking down at his watch. Still early enough for a random scavenger hunt on a bizarre late April Fool's Day, why not. He sat on the bench trying to figure out the numbers, Money? Addresses? Call numbers of a book! That would explain the name. Smiling slightly, he ran to the library, pulling up his coat and looking at the ground. Hopefully no one would see him, a government worker, in the library. Leslie alone could kill him though Ron would probably help. Hurrying to the stacks, scanned the shelves for 306.87 _How to raise your adult children : because big kids have even bigger problems. _What was this? _Wow, this person thinks they're really funny. _He started flipping through, hoping to find anything of any relevance or maybe just get the prank over with if that's what was going on. He was starting to think that the note writer just wanted to humiliate him by sending him there, when a yellow scrap of paper caught his eye.

_Forest, 1:05 be there. Ps. this note will self-destruct in 10 seconds. _Ben looked down at his watch again. 1:02.

"Oh man," he exhaled, Of course it was the forest. It was always some creepy forest or abandoned amusement park or something. _There is a very good chance someone tries to murder me. _Ben thought to himself as he tightened his grip on the pepper spray in his pocket. He ran to the forest before pausing, taking more hesitant steps. Something snapped behind him and as he turned, Ben saw something dart behind the tree. Heart pounding, he picked up a large branch, looking around wildly. Something fluttering by a tree caught his eye. It was a dollar bill. Ben rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, a dollar bill? Nice try." The dollar slid back behind the tree and Ben started to follow it, ready to catch the person in the act. Something dropped on his head and he jumped back, dropping the stick and swatting at his head. Spiders rained down around him and scattered away. "Gah!" Laughter echoed through the forest. A figure somersaulted back from behind the tree. Andy uncurled himself, laughing as April dropped out of the tree.

"Haha, gotcha!" Andy shouted, pointing at Ben.

"Ok, awesome, you got me. How did you even get here? I saw you at City Hall and I sprinted."

"Teleportation," April said, dryly staring at him intensely.

"Why couldn't you do this back at City Hall?"

April grinned at this, slyly. "Here. Andy felt bad for you, ok. Just remember that we won, got it?"

"We've got a plan and we need you to pull it off." Andy said, more seriously now.

"Wait, why me?"

"Because no one actually expects you to come up with something after you tried that bloodied arm thing last week." April crossed her arms. "Will you help us or not? We want this dto be good and if you say no we may have to kill you to keep you quiet." Ben knew that she was kidding, probably, but luckily he didn't have to worry.

"Alright fine, I'm in." Andy handed him the envelope as April threw down something round that released a thick gas. As Ben stood there, coughing and trying to see though the gas, he heard Andy and April run away, laughing. Really, was that necessary? Ben thought as he started to follow them out of the forest.

Three hours later, they were ready and the closet that Ben was currently hiding in was getting really warm. Andy distracted everyone ten minutes ago allowing Ben to get into position but they still hadn't given the signal yet. The closet felt tighter and tighter as Ben's regret grew and grew. This was so immature... but he was still slightly glad to be included. It would be weird to leave and go back to Indianapolis soon. He knew the day would come as Pawnee was starting to pull itself back together, but he still didn't feel quite ready. A large thump broke him out of consuming his thoughts. Someone started to open the closet.

Ben jumped out, shouting "Boo!" Only Jerry and Tom looked spooked. Jerry put his hand to his chest before chuckling slightly and shaking his head. "Whew, Ben, that was a good one."

"Really Ben?" Donna asked, slightly amused. "I guess that wasn't terrible but you had all day. I for one am disappointed."

Ben tried again. "Boo! Boo!" Everyone was just staring at him until he dropped his arms to his sides and sighed. "Fine. I'm going home." He tried to conceal his smile as his terrible acting skills still somehow managed to keep everyone occupied.

"I'll walk out with you.' Leslie said, reaching for her stuff. Her bag wouldn't budge. "Huh?" She pulled at it again but still nothing. "Oh my gosh, who glued this to the floor!" Tom started to snicker until he realized that his coat was stuck to his chair as well.

"Noooo," Tom groaned as he tried to work it free without ripping it. Everyone else started to investigate if their things had been glued down as well, almost no one had escaped except for Ron who nodded to Ben in stern amusement before giggling out the door and April who just grinned evilly before bowing.

"You are all welcome!" She proclaimed.

"I had just moved this onto the chair! When could you possibly do all this?" Tom groaned more.

April pointed at him. "Never question the prank queen."

Feeling proud but slightly bad, Ben blinked. "I have a solvent in my office." He quickly left before he would laugh any more and started to walk back to his office, passing Andy on the way. "Mission accomplished."

Andy highfived Ben. "All right! You aren't too bad at this. Now I can't wait to see what we do for next year! We may need to recruit you again," Andy exclaimed excitedly.

Ben just smiled slightly. Andy must not have know that Ben's job was temporary and Ben didn't have the heart to tell him.

"Yeah, next year," He just said before walking down the hall.


End file.
